Surgeon's prediction fires Bruton

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As he was heading out of the stadium late on Thursday night with his wife and little boy, C J Bruton turned to hear one more well-wisher reflect on his night of near perfection to launch the new Australian NBL season.

"How'd you miss that shot?" asked the wag outside the North Shore Events Centre. "You must be gutted."

"Why is it the one you miss that they remember?" shot back the New Zealand Breakers point guard. "What about all those ones that went in?"

Bruton was just joshing, but the exchange rather summed up the night for the Breakers, who shrugged off all the talk of favouritism and history-in-the- making to put together an emphatic 95-75 victory over the Cairns Taipans.

It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn good as the Kiwis showed the hype certainly has some substance.

And on a night where Bruton was very much the star of the show, it was his one missed shot that everyone was talking about.

Bruton finished a brilliant night's work with 28 points, six rebounds and three assists in 27 minutes. He took 11 field goal attempts and made 10 of them, including a remarkable eight of his nine three-pointers.

The lone brick didn't come until midway through the final quarter when he pulled up for a jump-shot over Taipans import Rich Melzer. Even then Bruton admits he thought it was going in, as he'd already started trash-talking Melzer. "I'd just subbed back in, and not being as warm, I guess I didn't have the legs in it," he recalled, genuinely rueful.

It's difficult to know what to make of Bruton's dazzling start to the season. After off-season surgery on his ankle and elbow, we were warned he was only three-quarters fit and he'd spent only a week before this match on the practice floor.

Yet Bruton had also told me that the surgeon who did the work on his elbow told him that he would come back a better shooter this year. After swishing a career- high 49.2% from deep last season, he'd acknowledged the challenge he faced living up to his medico's prediction.

He said plenty of hard work had gone into getting himself ready after the twin operations on his ankle (in Brisbane) and elbow (in Perth) but describes them now as "a blessing in disguise". He feels great and figures he's only going to get better as this season unfolds.

"I've had a few [night's like that], and obviously when you get them when they're all going in they're pretty rare so you cherish them," said Bruton. "Early in the season I feel like it was a good start but I'm not going to hang my hat on that.

"I felt relaxed. There were some nervous guys out there, but when you've played as much basketball as I have you don't get nervous at this time of the year just because everyone's picking you to finish first."

It was far from a one-man show from Bruton who had plenty of help from Kirk Penney. The reigning league MVP had 32 points and, but for Bruton's marksmanship, would probably have had us all talking about his own spectacular night, converting eight-of-11 three-point attempts.

Thomas Abercrombie, Dillon Boucher, Tony Ronaldson, Rick Rickert and Paul Henare also added positive contributions, and you have to say the Breakers' supporting cast found the open shooters expertly. But it was notable to hear conservative coach Andrej Lemanis afterwards speak more earnestly about the need to tighten defence than wax lyrical about his shooting studs.

Lemanis knows too well that nights like this will be few and far between and they'll have to find other ways to win.

There's plenty of nervous energy around this club, and Bruton's extrovert nature helps deflate the external pressures.

Typically, Bruton loves it that everyone's talking up the Breakers as this new season gets into stride.

"It's about enjoying it - it's a fun ride, and it's a long one, so the more fun you have the better it is."

The Breakers now hit the road for games against Melbourne (on Wednesday) and Adelaide (next Saturday).

- © Fairfax NZ News